5 Sneaky Ways to Buy Time as a Designer – Prototypr

We’ve all been there. You’ve got a hard deadline for an upcoming design and you’ve got nothing, nada, zero.

For some reason you’ve chosen to write a pointless medium article, or go on Twitter, or Linkedin, or Facebook, or literally sat staring at a blank screen whistling, anything but the one thing you should be doing.

Then all of a sudden they’re on top of you. Like vultures smelling blood. The PMs and developers come crawling from under your desk. Their fangs are out, dying for the chance to get you in trouble. They know you’re work isn’t at the level it should be. You’ve missed edgecases, you’ve not properly tested flows, you’re winging it. Panic sets in.

How am I going to get out of this one…😱

Don’t worry. We’ve all been there. I’ve put together some handy tips to buy you some time and get you out of trouble. I obviously do not condone these tips, I always do my job to the best of my ability just incase my boss is reading these…

#1 This is an MVP…🙌

This tactic will keep others on your side. They’ll think you are already 4 steps ahead. Drop in the word skateboard into the conversation. Reinforce how agile we are and that it’s all about making baby steps. Be patronising. Explain how it’s all about bringing value to the product as quickly as possible, which essentially means doing as little work as possible.

#2 Blame marketing for taking up your time…🙄

Blame marketing. Explain that you’ve had various random requests coming in from left field and you’ve had no time. They’re so unorganised…Marketing are always trying to rob your time, use it to your advantage.

#3 Be unapproachable…😠

Shout at them. Make sure that senior management don’t hear. Come across that you’re stressed to the eyeballs. They may pity you, but from a distance. If you come across angry enough you’ll buy yourself a couple of days of them being too scared to come near you.

#4 Blame the stakeholders…🤷‍

No one will go above you to find out if it’s a true statement or not. Say that the senior stakeholders keep changing their mind. Ensure not to use this approach too many times or it actually might make it up high enough to stakeholders and then you’re in trouble.

️Find yourself a nice quite corner on a different floor and call it your new spot. Don’t tell anyone though. If they find you just simply say that you needed to find a place to focus.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I am merely passing on tips that I have heard from lazy designers. I do not condone being a lazy designer. You’re always best off giving it 110%. I for one am not a lazy designer. I am a very active designer. I swear.

If you have any more tips on how to avoid doing work, please feel free to drop me a line.